Petrides: Cyprus will not agree to fragmentation of EU’s Asylum Reform

Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Malta will not agree to fragmenting the debate on immigration in a way that does not include a comprehensive reform of the Dublin asylum system, Interior Minister Constantinos Petrides warned today in Brussels.

“EU-level negotiations at the level of the Ministers of Immigration and Internal Affairs regarding the reform of the Common European Asylum System are indeed at a crucial point after many years and in the absence of an agreement on the allocation mechanism of people seeking protection and which would help the front line countries,” said the Minister, on the sidelines of the Council.

“An attempt is being made by some countries to split the package to move forward with some additional obligations, but without completing Dublin reform with the automatic redistribution mechanism across the EU, of those people in need of protection”, he said.

“We are not going to agree to splitting the package so that it does not include a revision of the Dublin Regulation and the concept of solidarity, that is, the automatic allocation mechanism, and that only additional obligations remain for the front line countries”, warned the Minister.

“It has to be understood, and that is what we stressed today, that a country now receiving 1000 asylum applications per month cannot cope alone and, in the absence of this urgent need for a mechanism of automatic allocation across the EU, he system is not functional, ” he said.

“But we, Greece, Malta and Italy, will not agree to refer to Dublin`s review of the future, and that was clear, and I hope we can, in addition, after two three years, move on to a comprehensive reform of the European asylum system,” he concluded.